Borderline Personality Disorder: Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is characterized by impulsivity, unstable moods, relationships, and self-image. Symptoms include desperate attempts to prevent real or imagined abandonment, repeated suicidal thoughts or behaviors, or self-mutilation (for example, cutting or burning themselves), unstable and intense relationships with others that alternate between seeing the other person as flawless and as worthless, persistent feelings of emptiness, trouble controlling anger, and short-lived episodes of paranoia or dissociation that are caused by stress. Treatment usually involves some form of psychotherapy, and medications can be helpful in reducing some of the specific mood symptoms of BPD.